RECIPES/ Sides

Baked Vegetable Egg Rolls

I found this recipe at Pinterest, it comes from For The Love Of Cooking . I made these in the afternoon when my kids came home from school, as an afternoon snack.

They were a bit skeptical when I told them I was making vegetable egg rolls instead of chicken, but they smelled so good that my kids kept coming in the kitchen, asking if they were done yet and eager to try them.

Needless to say, they devoured the egg rolls and asked “when will you make more, Mom?” We had little neighbor friends over, and they too loved them. I also sent some over to my adult neighbor and got a “thank you these are awesome” text in return. This recipe is a keeper, one that I will make often.

Filling ingredients: shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, chopped water chestnuts, green onions, and ginger.

This recipe would be a snap if you bought pre-shredded cabbage and carrots. It was still very easy to shred and grate it myself, it took just minutes.

Vegetables sauteed with a bit of soy sauce. The fresh ginger and green onion along with the soy sauce smelled SO good.

About 2 Tablespoons of filling per egg roll.

Fold like an envelope.

Then roll.

Use a dab of water to “glue” the end.

Spray pan with oil. Then spray tops of egg rolls. This is the key to getting crunch when baking, and fooling your kids (and yourself!) into thinking they are fried.

I love to serve these with a sweet chili sauce. It comes already prepared, I buy mine from Trader Joes.

Baked Vegetable Egg Rolls

{adapted from the recipe at For The Love Of Cooking}

1 teaspoon olive oil

2 cups savoy cabbage, chopped

2 cups shredded carrots

1 can water chestnuts, chopped

2 tablespoons green onions, sliced

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon corn starch

1/4 cup water

14 egg roll wraps

Sweet chili dipping sauce or sweet and sour sauce (for dipping)

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Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot add the cabbage, carrots, chestnuts and ginger to the pan and cook, stirring frequently for 4-5 minutes. The vegetables will just begin to wilt but still remain a little bit crisp. Mix the cornstarch with the water and mix thoroughly. Add the corn starch mixture and soy sauce to the pan along with the green onions. Cook for an additional 1-2 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Remove from heat and let cool a bit.

Place two tablespoons of the cooled mixture on the center of the egg roll wrap. Fold bottom up over the filling. Next, fold the two sides over, making it look like an envelope, then roll it up like a burrito.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place the rolled up egg rolls on a baking sheet. Once you have rolled them all, spray the top of each egg roll with cooking spray.

Place in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes then turn them over. Bake for an additional 5-7 minutes or until crispy and golden brown. Serve with sweet chili sauce or sweet and sour sauce. Enjoy!

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*these are vegetarian, but not vegan, as there are eggs in the egg roll. I may try using spring roll wrappers next time.

Misto Gourmet Olive Oil Sprayer, Brushed Aluminum

* I don’t like to use aerosol cooking sprays due to the propellant in them. I have a handy little pump oil sprayer that I use, like the one above.

*the original recipe called for 2 cups of bean sprouts. I left them out thinking they may freak my kids out. They make the rolls a little more “plump” if you add them. The rest of the recipe stays the same.

Brunch/ RECIPES

Breakfast Burritos For The Freezer

I’ve made these twice in the past 2 weeks. My family LOVES them, and I love that there is always something in my freezer when I hear “MOM, there is nothing to eat!”

I started out with 12 eggs. I prefer feeding my family organic eggs from a local farm. Fresh is best!

I cracked them all in a cup and used my handy dandy most favorite thing ever–my Cuisinart SmartStick Immersion Hand Blender. If you have ever thought of buying one, DO IT, and use the above link if you so please? If you do, I will get a lil’ something to help with buying those darn expensive organic eggs!

I bought a bag of shredded potatoes from Trader Joes. I saw on Pinterest that you could cook them on your waffle maker. I think I needed to use more oil. I didn’t want to, so mine are not at pretty as the ones on Pinterest, but it worked! Plus, I would be dividing them up over my burritos so pretty was not important.

My not so pretty potatoes.

I laid out 12 burritos. Ugh. I keep misspelling that word. Burritoes instead of burritos. Remember, there are no toes in burritos.

I scrambled my eggs. I don’t add any milk or water when I scramble eggs. I’m not sure why. I guess I like to keep it simple. I added seasoning salt and pepper.

I then sprinkled them with cheese. I went very light on the cheese. My kids complained about wanting more cheese next time, but they still devoured them!

I then added the potatoes as the finished cooking. I made 3 batches with the waffle iron. My kids took the left over shredded potatoes and have been making their own potato snacks in the waffle iron. I love that they make their own, but I MUST teach them how to clean that thing. Cleaning waffle irons take patience, all those little squares!

I wrapped in parchment paper, and put in a ziplock.

When my kids wanted one, they would unwrap and put in microwave until hot. We did have some issues with the insides being still frozen while the outside was too hot, I need to fiddle with our microwave settings. We found if we cut them in half while still frozen, that helped. My solution was to keep these in the refrigerator. When I saw that the girls were eating them for afternoon snack and breakfast, there was no need to freeze. With 3 girls and a husband, 12 burritos can easily be eaten in less than a week.

If you want to add meat to these, sausage or bacon, click here to see where I got the inspiration. She makes a meat version.

Breakfast Burritos For The Freezer

12 eggs
12 tortillas
1 cup cheese
3 cups frozen shredded hash browns
s & p

Blend & scramble the eggs. Season to taste. Put about a cup of hash browns on your waffle maker, close and cook until lightly brown. Repeat 2 more times (or brown up in a pan on the stove, according to package directions.) Divide eggs among 12 tortilla shells. Divide cooked hash browns among the 12 tortillas. Sprinkle each with cheese. Roll up, wrap with parchment paper, put into a ziplock and freeze or refrigerate. Will keep in freezer up to 4 months, in refrigerator 5 days.

Drinks/ RECIPES

Fresh Lime Soda

Boy oh Boy oh Boy! I’m so excited about this recipe for Fresh Lime Soda! It is SO refreshing and delicious. This would be perfect on a hot summer day, or frankly, ANY day! I love finding delicious recipes that are great substitutes for things that are not so good for us, like regular soda.

The original recipe calls for homemade simple syrup, but I used Organic Raw Agave Nectar. It gives it a tea color, but makes it so good! I think its quite a pretty drink! I’m eager to serve it to my friends who visit. It is the perfect ‘sit in the sunporch and sip’ type of beverage, and I intend to do just that!

Fresh Lime Soda

2 Tablespoons Organic Raw Agave Nectar (or maple syrup, or simple syrup)

Slice of Lime

2 Tablespoons Freshly Squeezed Lime Juice (about one medium sized lime)

3/4 Cup Sparkling Water

Pinch of salt

Ice

Put ice in jar. Add agave or syrup, lime juice and water. Put lid on and shake until well blended. Add lime slice and enjoy!

In A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food (Oxford University Press, 1998), author K. T. Achaya says that fresh lime soda was “the supreme quencher of colonial thirst” in India.

I totally agree with K.T. Achaya!

Drinks/ RECIPES

The End Of My Juice Cleanse Day 4 & Day 5

Day 4

Well, I have to say, I AM SO GLAD I DID THIS! I will write more another time about a few of the reasons why, but one of the main reason is that I feel like it “reset” my tastebuds. Fresh, raw fruits and vegetables taste AMAZING to me right now. I have no coffee cravings. I have no sugar cravings. I don’t even have bread cravings, which is huge for me.

I like how regular juicing makes me feel, and I needed reminded of this. I am now very motivated to keep juicing at least a few times a week, not as a substitute for food, but as a supplement. On the days I do not juice, I will drink my green smoothie.

Ending the fast should be taken slow. I was not very good at this. You see, it was my daughters birthday on day 4, so I did ok for breakfast and lunch, then came cake time..but we will get to that.

Breakfast-

~Banana, Mango, Strawberry Smoothie w/ chia seeds

~drank 16 oz lemon water

1 frozen banana

1 cup frozen mango chunks

1 cup frozen strawberries

2 tablespoons chia seeds

put all in blender with enough water to make it blend

This was yummy. I usually add greens to my smoothies, but I was making this to share with my birthday girl, and I wanted it to be pink. It was delicious. The added chia seeds make it very filling.

Lunch

Spinach Salad

Brown Rice

I used my awesome mandolin slicer to slice the veggies. I sprinkled it with pumpkin seeds and almonds for some crunch. The brown rice is from Trader Joes, they sell already made, organic frozen brown rice. So easy! This salad tasted really good. It was crazy how simple sliced vegetables tasted so yummy to me, and I was eating them as eagerly as I would eat other foods. That was new. I love veggies, but I REALLY loved this plate of veggies. Usually I would want some type of sauce on my rice. Not this time. I wanted it just plain, the nuttiness of the rice really came through. Again, I felt like my palate had been cleaned and I can actually taste and appreciate real foods in their natural state.

Afternoon Snack

Oh yea…would you look at THAT! That, my friends, is vegan Mexican Chocolate Cake from my local health food store. I live just a block away from this store and this cake is often calling to me. I had no time to bake a birthday cake for my girl, so I ran to the store and bought a few pieces of this cake just minutes before my birthday girl was supposed to be home. I stuck in some Hershey bar squares (not vegan) to make it festive, and put it on a platter. I added some pastries. My daughter loved it.

Although I don’t feel sugar cravings, that doesn’t mean I didn’t want some cake when it was right in front of me! I had some, and didn’t feel to well after. It just felt heavy.

Dinner

Dinner was tricky. My birthday girl decided that, instead of a big birthday party, she wanted to invite one friend to the mall to shop with her. I loved that idea, we have done it before and it is SO much easier than having a party! They had great fun. They shopped, used the dollar massage chairs, rode the carousel, took pictures in picture booth, had manicures, ate at the food court, got a cookie and ended the night with frozen yogurt sundaes. I loved that all this fun was in one place, and I had much fun watching them have fun!

There was not very many choices for a decent dinner at the mall food court. I went to the Italian place and asked if they could make me pasta & tomato sauce with no cheese. They were happy to. I also had some of their roasted potatoes and a Caesar salad. I didn’t care for the dressing, I barely dipped the pieces in. It was just too salty for my taste, and full of junk. The rest of the meal tasted great! I was happy.

I didn’t do yogurt sundaes with the girls, but I did get a cookie. Again, it tasted good but set heavy. I think it was too soon to be eating sweets!!

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Day 5

Day 5 was not so good food wise! Started out ok, but the way I ended the night. Blech. I felt so yuck.

I will make this quick. I had a ladies brunch that Saturday morning. I had my first cup of coffee in a week. It was good, but the addiction seems gone. I kinda miss how GOOOOOD it used to be! 🙂 There was fruit and pastries. I had fruit and a few bites of a scone. I preferred the fruit. So interesting.

Lunch-took my two older girls out to lunch and a movie. We ate at noodles and company, I had the Bangkok Curry Noodles, no chicken, no mushrooms extra broccoli, and a nice green side salad. It was yum and full of color! Then we went to a cafe. They had gelato and I had coffee.

Dinner-Family night. Ordered pizza. I took off the cheese, but it was Pizza Hut pan pizza and it was THICK and greasy! I also had a couple bread sticks. It was just too much greasy bread. Blech.

I miss my juice!! Who woulda’ thunk it?

GF, Vegan & Raw/ Meals/ RECIPES

Easy Spaghetti Sauce

{Aren’t those labels cute? Click here for more.}

I can’t quite put my finger on why I liked this sauce so much. I think it is because it is so easy, makes a ton of sauce, and tastes just like some of the great sauces you can buy at the store, minus the added ingredients (like high fructose corn syrup)! The red pepper gives it the perfect bit of spice, barely noticeable.

Cuisinart SmartStick Immersion Hand Blender

I was skeptical of a sauce with no onion or garlic, but that is the beauty of this sauce, no chopping! I did use my hand dandy hand blender to chop up the tomatoes. My family does not like chunks.

Easy Spaghetti Sauce (inspired by My Recipes)

2 (28-ounce) cans diced tomatoes

1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste

1 cup water

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon dried oregano

1/8 teaspoon red pepper

16 ounces spaghetti, cooked (I prefer whole grain)

Stir together first 8 ingredients in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
Reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 60 minutes.
Serve over pasta.

*leftover sauce freezes well

**if you prefer, you can add some thawed but fully cooked Italian Meatballs (or meat-less balls) to the sauce the last 20 minutes.

Meals/ RECIPES

Sesame Chicken In The Crockpot

I’m so excited about this recipe. Why? ALL 3 of my kids ate it and loved it. That does not happen very often. Not only do they all love it, but the sauce is AWESOME and tasted great over rice and vegetables, so I can eat plant based along with my family! The last reason why I love it is that it cooks in the crockpot. So easy!

Sesame Chicken In The Crockpot
from Six Sisters’ Stuff via Baby Center

Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (thighs would be fine too)
Salt and pepper
1 cup honey
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup diced onion
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (could also use olive oil or coconut oil)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional – doesn’t really add heat, just adds more flavor)
4 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 6 Tablespoons water
Sesame seeds (I was out of sesame seeds

Directions:
Season both sides of chicken with lightly with salt and pepper, put into crock pot. In a small bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, oil, garlic and pepper flakes. Pour over chicken. Cook on low for 3-4 hours or on high 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 hours, or just until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken from crock pot, leave sauce. Dissolve 4 teaspoons of cornstarch in 6 tablespoons of water and pour into crock pot. Stir to combine with sauce. Replace lid and cook sauce on high for ten more minutes or until slightly thickened. Cut chicken into bite size pieces, then return to pot and toss with sauce before serving. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve over rice or noodles.

Drinks/ RECIPES

Juice Cleanse Day 3-Happy!

Today I woke up, and felt really good. I checked my blood sugar level and it was normal. I decided to carry on and have juice for breakfast and lunch, then eat dinner.

I drank my typical 16 oz. of lemon water right when I got up.

Then I had the Mean Green for breakfast. It filled me up and I felt great!

The Mean Green

6 Kale Leaves

1 Cucumber

2 Green Apples

4 Celery

1/2 Lemon

1 Ginger Root (thumb size)

My lunch juice was AWESOME! It is called The Sunset Blend I think it is one of my favorites so far, which is funny because when I saw the recipe I was nervous about how it would taste. I was so surprised and happy, it is a great juice.

The Sunset Blend

1 large Sweet Potato

1 medium Carrot

1 Red Bell Pepper

2 Red Beets

2 Golden Delicious Apples

1 Orange, optional

After my lunch juice, my energy soared. It was crazy! I really was in disbelief and couldn’t believe the difference of how I felt compared to the night before when my blood sugar was too low. It was strange that other than 1 orange and a piece of toast eaten the night before to help with my blood sugar, (see Juice Cleanse Day 2), I didn’t need food to even me out like I thought. I thought I would wake up and need a hearty bowl of oatmeal. It was not the case. I was not hungry or weak. I felt amazing. So surprised!

I used my crazy energy to clean my kitchen. I had motivation to clean out areas that I had put off for awhile, and as I cleaned I realized that I had major clarity of thought. Another thing that is hard to explain. My brain just felt clear and crisp.

Late afternoon, I started getting hungry for the first time all day and feeling a little energy slump. I made Tomatoes On Toast and it was a great snack! I went very light on the olive oil.

While I was making dinner, I decided to do a bunch of juicing on produce that I was afraid would go bad before I could use it. Adding food to this cleanse meant less juicing, and I did not want my produce to go to waste. I cut up broccoli to steam for dinner, and used the stalks for juicing. Broccoli stalk juice is not very appealing, but when added to a juice with other flavors it mellows out. I also juiced a bunch of swiss chard that was looking a little sad and limpy in my refrigerator. It made the most beautiful deep green juice!

I decided to experiment and pour both the broccoli stalk juice and swiss chard juice into ice cube trays. My theory is that if frozen, it will retain most of its nutrients. I will research more, but it was either that or let it go to waste. I am hoping to use them in green smoothies and even when making vegetable soup.

I will let you know what I find out and how it goes.

Dinner was simple whole wheat pasta with homemade tomato sauce, steamed broccoli, and a big spinach salad. I knew a heavier pasta and the steamed broccoli was a gamble on a digestive system that had a break for 2 days, and I wondered if I would feel sick. I didn’t. I felt a little too full, I ate too much, but comfortable.

Herbal tea before bed, and of course, drank water all day long.

I loved that I didn’t feel hungry all day. I loved my energy. There are other good things I am noticing but I will save that for another post!

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